Epilogue

Let’s talk about what happened after arresting Sai.

I mean the recent updates, excluding the shitty parts like Mina and the others being taken to the hospital or how I was pulled out of the pit being broadcast nationwide.

First, Yuna-ri suffered a large laceration to her abdomen but was discharged perfectly fine after being hospitalized for a while.

After that, I heard she tried to return to her main job as a researcher, but she’s having such a hard time that even that is difficult.

What was it again? Because she created the neutralization drug, she’s become famous worldwide and is receiving love calls.

The superpower awakening agent factory in Korea was destroyed, but since Sai had already extended her influence overseas, the news jabbers on daily about how superpower users are increasing worldwide.

The simple spread of the awakening agent is problematic enough, but to make matters worse, the drug isn’t like Sai’s, which perfectly turns someone into a superpower user with just one dose.

The situation is that cheap awakening agents with serious side effects, which might not even cause awakening with a single dose, are also spreading.

In this situation, what kind of treatment would Yuna-ri, who can create a neutralization drug capable of neutralizing powered individuals, receive? Especially when there’s evidence that she committed criminal acts before?

The last time I saw Yuna-ri, she seemed to have lost her mind, crying and smiling brightly at the same time while shouting:

“Free Dobby!! Please give me socks!!! Please let me sleep at least 2 hours a day!!”

“Sigh. Is she a graduate student?”

She’s living decently well in her own way. I’m not sure if it’s right to describe it as living like a graduate student, but anyway.

Dokkaebi is currently imprisoned. He could have easily escaped, but he willingly accepted the shackles and proudly stood trial.

Since he was a serial killer who murdered dozens of high-ranking individuals, including corrupt politicians and business families—what’s commonly referred to as the “distinguished ones”—his sentence was severe.

But people saw him risk his life to fight for Sai’s arrest via the live broadcast, and in addition to his confession, I also used all the connections I knew to successfully reduce his sentence as much as possible.

Of course, the distinguished ones wanted to say “fuck sentence bargaining” and erase Dokkaebi forever, but considering that he helped stop the terrifying monster that is Sai, I was able to succeed.

Ah, so… to just state the result, I ended up taking care of his sister until Dokkaebi gets out, and Dokkaebi will be able to attend his sister’s college graduation ceremony when the time comes.

“…Now I can look up at the sky proudly. Without needing to wear a mask. Thank you, Detective. I am indebted to you for life.”

“Is that so.”

And then there’s Sai—. After being injected with the neutralization drug and imprisoned, Sai showed a different course of action than what I had thought.

Even after time passed and her ability returned, she didn’t attempt to escape or cause a riot.

Sai confessed her crimes without any resistance through the investigation and trial, but during the process, she consistently had a face that seemed to be pondering something.

Not knowing what that reaction meant and being concerned, I visited her the day before the trial. Sai opened her mouth as if she had been waiting for me to come.

“…Godeok-ro near Sanseong Golf Practice Range.”

“What?”

“It’s where I disposed of the man I dealt with on my first day of joining the Special Investigation Team. The man who found out about the laboratory. I’ve already disposed of the body… but his belongings are buried under the zelkova tree behind the golf practice range. His clothes and wallet should still be there.”

“…You remember that?”

“Yes. Surprising, isn’t it? I’m surprised too. That I remember such things.”

Sai, who spoke like that, was in a restraint suit with her limbs perfectly bound, but everyone knows that such a thing alone couldn’t stop Sai.

Yet, what is the reason she endures such discomfort? I silently looked at Sai imprisoned behind safety glass.

She smiled with an ill-fitting, dejected smile and said:

“I can’t feel remorse. Honestly, I don’t feel any emotion. But… I remember. Who I’ve killed. Strangely enough.”

Afterwards, I went to the place Sai mentioned and investigated. There, I truly found Shin Yumi’s brother, Kim Yunsik’s wallet and blood-stained clothes.

She said she had torn the body into pieces and scattered them in the Han River, so the body couldn’t be found. But at least I could hand over the belongings to the child who had been looking for her brother.

“…Thank… you. Thank you… Really thank you… For finding my brother… Really thank you…”

Shin Yumi said those words to me while crying. That child could now escape from the dangerous days of being pursued by Sai and return to an ordinary life.

I don’t know what changed in Sai’s mind.

But she occasionally rattled off the locations of belongings or buried bodies of victims she killed as if she had just remembered.

When there were neither bodies nor belongings, she at least visited the victims’ families to inform them that the person had died.

She calmly spoke as if confessing her sins. Again, I don’t know what change of heart has occurred in her.

But Sai, whom I occasionally visited, was crying and showed a demeanor of not knowing what to do herself.

Since I can’t know whether it’s a lie to deceive me or if she’s truly reflecting, I visit Sai once a week to check on her.

I told myself it’s to confirm information about the victims she harmed—but there’s also an expectation that she might actually be reflecting.

Well, that’s enough about Sai.

Now, let me talk about myself.

After arresting Sai, I didn’t—as I had hoped—quit the police, learn cooking, and become the owner of the most successful chicken restaurant in the country.

I didn’t open a successful chicken restaurant, nor did I learn cooking. I didn’t even quit the police in the first place.

“What the fuck! I submitted my resignation letter, where did my resignation letter go?!”

“Haha! I intercepted your resignation letter midway! And replaced it with a vacation form!! Didn’t you think it was strange that you left without a waiting period!?”

“Are you upset? Does it feel unfair?! It’s a loophole in this country’s system! Now you can’t leave even if you submit a resignation letter! You bastard! Did you think I’d let you escape alone?! Hahahahaha!!”

“You damn bald bastard!!”

…For these reasons, I remained tied to the police and became so famous as the police officer who arrested Sai that now I can’t leave even if I want to.

I also got a shitty promotion again. Shittily surrounded by only people trying to play politics. Supervillain bastards who had fled overseas to escape Sai are slinking back and causing chaos.

Despite writing resignation letters about 50 times, I couldn’t even cross the threshold of the personnel department, and as I was getting exhausted by such days.

Before I knew it, years had passed, and I had become the captain of Seoul Metropolitan Police Special Investigation Unit 1.

Yes, I had been dragged to headquarters. And even after being dragged to headquarters, I was still working in the field.

“Fuck.”

With thoughts like maybe it would have been better to die in that pit on the day I arrested Sai. I lamented my situation of not even having dated once despite approaching my 40s.

Yes, I’m saying that I’m having a hard time just like an ordinary police officer in a superhero genre.

…Well, it’s probably difficult to call it a world within a superhero genre anymore.

I’m not saying this because the strongest dark mastermind of the worldview was arrested.

It’s because the most important superhero in the superhero genre graduated from the police university to become a police officer.

“Salute! Police Inspector Mina! As of today, I’ve been assigned to Seoul Metropolitan Police Special Investigation Unit 1!!!”

“…That’s right.”

The superhero didn’t remain a vigilante but became a police officer. So, can this world still be considered a world within the superhero genre?

I found it hard to find words at the familiar child in police uniform.

Even though I had already seen her in uniform at her university graduation ceremony, seeing Mina in police uniform rather than her distinctive spandex was awkwardly frightening.

Yes, Mina became a police officer. Admiring me, she entered the police university right after graduating high school, and thanks to her previous achievements and superpower, Mina received a special privilege of the shortest graduation period.

Now an adult, the child had grown to the point where she sometimes overlapped with the appearance of ‘Mina’. The difference from ‘Mina’ would be her chest, which was as voluptuous as Sai’s…

A massive chest that stood out with curves even in a restrictive outfit like a police uniform.

Mina, who had developed a beauty that would momentarily steal the gaze of anyone, man or woman, on the street, looked at me with a bright smile.

I patted Mina’s head and smiled back at her.

In the past, the government tried to designate Mina as an official government hero, but she fought to become a proper police officer rather than a vigilante, and finally, she made it here.

The girl, now fully grown into an adult, will find and pursue her future.

Even if masked vigilantes have disappeared, she remains, so it’s a happy ending if it can be called one. Yes, being a civil servant is better than being a hero that doesn’t pay.

In terms of a novel, it would be a situation where the content ends with a period and “THE END.”

And that was—a happy ending too overflowing for an adult who had turned a blind eye to this child fighting for his safety.

I smiled, reflecting on the hardships thus far.

I suddenly recalled how Mina was different from before, no longer clinging to me, but far from feeling sad about it, I only thought that she had finally come to her senses.

Thinking that if only Mina would now give up on an old man like me, meet a proper person, and get married, I’d have nothing more to wish for, I said:

“You’ve worked hard. You look great.”

“Hehe… Thank you. But, you haven’t forgotten our promise, right?”

At Mina’s words, her face blushing, I nodded.

We had promised earlier that when she joined the Special Investigation Team after graduation, we would have a celebration party just the two of us, so I was about to take Mina to a restaurant in my newly purchased car.

But in the midst of that, Mina suddenly said she heard a strange sound from afar.

Mina, who had gained more powerful abilities as she grew older, could now detect sounds from far away.

So, thinking that another incident had occurred, I drove according to Mina’s directions. But as I drove more according to her words, we increasingly went to a secluded mountain road without even CCTVs.

Thinking that an incident could indeed happen in such a place even during the day, I looked around, but—there was nothing unusual to be seen.

“Is it around here? I don’t see… anything?”

“……”

Mina maintained an awkward silence, suddenly pulled the handbrake, and unfastened her seatbelt.

As if she had practiced multiple times, she skillfully pulled the lever under the seat, pushed my seat back, and climbed on top of me.

Although I was dumbfounded by the sudden action, I swallowed my breath when I saw Mina’s face as she climbed on top of me, backlit by the sunshine above.

That, you know. An expression that a real woman, not a child, would make. Her red eyes gleamed with a certain emotion. Mina suppressed me with her strength so I couldn’t escape and said:

“I’m sorry, Detective. But you said it, didn’t you? That you’d treat me like an adult when I got my ID card. But I didn’t think that would happen. I worked hard, graduated from college too. So…”

Mina climbs on top and pins me down. I tried to escape somehow with my strength, but I couldn’t escape from Mina, who had become even stronger.

I tried to call for help, but I realized there wasn’t even a shadow of a person in this vicinity.

“Hey, wait a minute. I’m almost 40! Come to your senses! You’re unbelievably beautiful right now! If you want to find someone better than me, you can easily find them!”

“…Hehe, so I’m beautiful.”

Mina, who didn’t listen to anything else, smiled at the compliment that she was beautiful.

The moment I saw that smile, my heart started beating wildly with fear.

Seeing my face, Mina, as if she couldn’t hold back, hurriedly took off her uniform coat and started unbuttoning her shirt. With each button undone, the already massive presence became more and more evident.

Looking closely because something seemed strange, I realized this crazy Mina wasn’t wearing ordinary underwear but something that a porn actress would wear—

Mina completely unbuttoned her top. The massive things—

“I love you.”

Oh shit.

….

…

..

.

“Sir. What on earth did you do to make the underside of the car such a mess? Did you dance on top of the car or something? Otherwise, the car can’t get like this. …Seeing your back’s gone out, did you really dance?”

“Shut up.”

Do you know what happens to a police officer in a superhero genre after the story ends?

No, an ordinary police officer probably wouldn’t end up like me. I pondered why my life turned out this way. And spat out a curse.